Gua Musang member of Parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today proposed the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate the independent power producers (IPPs) alleged to have made hefty profit at the expense of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the Malaysian consumers.

He said this was vital as TNB had to bear high expenditure cost and inadvertently burdened the consumers by raising the electricity tariffs.

“The commission must investigate and propose the best suitable measures to be taken by the government to ease the burden to be borne by the consumers following the inevitable increase in the electricity tariff after the IPPs charged higher rates to TNB,” he said at a leader-meets-people event in Kampung Limau Kasturi in Gua Musang today.

Tengku Razaleigh, who is also Gua Musang Umno chief, said it was feared that the increase in electricity tariffs, which took effect on June 1, would also prompted most traders to increase the price of consumer products.

“We have to be fair in solving the issue because the IPPs are making hefty profits at the expense of TNB, besides getting subsidised rate from Petronas,” he added.

- Bernama